Harvard rightly argues that it cannot hand over those documents without first redacting the private, identifiable information of its students and applicants; after all, Harvard’s administration has a legal and moral duty to protect any confidential information transmitted to the school by its applicants. Furthermore, the Trump administration does not have a good track record of handling such information responsibly: lest we forget, the last time they were given confidential documents, they ended up doxxing a whole bunch of private citizens. Hell, the presidentcasually revealed classified information to Russian leaders. Harvard has reason to be wary of offering the federal government a treasure trove of its applicants’ personal information.

The latest back-and-forth between the Justice Department and Harvard – which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal – is further evidence that the Trump administration is moving at full speed to dismantle affirmative action in this country before Donald Trump leaves office; and, they seem willing to accomplish this petty goal by any means necessary.

In recent months, we’ve seen the erosion of voting rights and a mounting war against immigrants. The president has criticized Black Lives Matter while defending white nationalists as “good people”. Are we really surprised that this same administration cannot tolerate policies that promote campus diversity by ensuring higher education access for people of color?

If we should be surprised by anything, it should be that some narrow-minded conservatives within the Asian American community continue to eagerly embrace the role of wedge minority against Black and Brown communities; and in so doing, they have enabled the conservative campaign to end affirmative action policies that — historically and currently – benefit all communities of color, including Asian Americans.

What, then, is this Department of Justice investigation if not a partisan, alt-right effort to weaponize Asian Americans against policies that make higher education accessible for all people of colour?